AVAI MobileAVAI Mobilehttp://avaimobile.com
A Better Way to Build & Manage AppsFri, 10 Jul 2015 19:36:19 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3What’s New in iOS 9?http://avaimobile.com/whats-ios-9/
http://avaimobile.com/whats-ios-9/#commentsFri, 12 Jun 2015 20:20:10 +0000http://avaimobile.com/?p=13368Apple has announced the release of its latest version of iOS, with minor, but noteworthy changes over iOS 8.

Siri was a major focus in this update, adding functionality more competitive with the rival – Google Now. Siri will be more intelligent, providing contextual responses and suggestions, sometimes before you even ask. For example, if Siri is asked to “find photos from Texas last March,” Siri will find and display the applicable images on your iPhone. Additionally, Apple introduced a new search API that will enable developers to take advantage of Siri functionality.

Caller ID also was improved. If an incoming call isn’t saved into the devices contacts, iOS will attempt to guess who it might be based on other information, such as your emails.

Reminders will also be more tightly integrated with your calendar, automatically presenting reminders when your next event is scheduled. As with Caller ID, your device will offer suggestions for events based on your email messages.

Multitasking for iPads was updated to allow new app switching and split-screen viewing. You will now have the ability to browse photos or watch videos while other apps are open.

Finally, as par with Apple updates, iOS 9 will also enhance device performance and increase battery life with new lower-power modes.

Skeuomorphism. Say that three times fast. Don’t worry if you can’t, because hopefully that’s the last time you’ll ever hear it. Skeuomorphism is a visual style that tries to imitate real-world materials and textures. It was made popular by Apple when mobile was in its infancy. Today however, across every OS out there, Skeuomorphism is a fossil.

Flat Design has been the predominant trend in mobile UI for the past few years. As opposed to its predecessor, Skeuomorphic Design, Flat Design avoids any added effects to make the interface appear realistic or three-dimensional. Instead, the style is very minimalistic and distinctively two-dimensional. Embellishments such as bevels, embossing, drop shadows or artificial textures are absent altogether.
Principals of Flat Design center on a clear sense of hierarchy. The goal is to make interaction with your app very easy for users to understand and interact with.

Why the Growth

Mobile has driven, and will continue to drive, Flat UI design. Designing on small screens is especially challenging as mobile hardware evolves to include more and more functionality. A Flat interface makes it easier to interact with complex app functions.

2015 Trends

Flat Design has sustained momentum over the past year, and will predominantly be the design approach in 2015. Below are the major evolutions we see going forwards.

Material Design

Material Design shares many of the core principles of Flat Design. Developed by Google, this approach uses very subtle gradients, layering, and depth effects (such as lighting and shadows) to retain a sense of the tangible world, while still achieving all the advantages of Flat Design. Google’s Matías Duarte explained, “Material has physical surfaces and edges. Seams and shadows provide meaning about what you can touch.” Although Material Design is relatively new, this progression in Flat Design will be predominate in 2015.

Imagery

Another trend that will stay strong is the use of large, beautiful background images and videos. Fueling by development in device screen sizes and resolutions, today’s biggest brands are increasingly choosing to predominately display powerful, contextual imagery in their mobile apps.

Typography

Because Flat Design emphases simplicity, typography is an important component in design. Type preferences should also be simple and clean, and should create a sense of contrast in juxtaposition with the background. Most often designers are using a very limited number of typefaces (commonly opting for Sans-Serif or Helvetica), and using no more than a two font weights.

Context

Finally, context will continue to be paramount in mobile design. Designing for in-the-moment activities, and facilitating the right actions in context is very important. App navigation should be implicit and intuitive to everybody.

]]>http://avaimobile.com/flat-design-trends-2015/feed/0Happy Mother’s Dayhttp://avaimobile.com/if-siri-was-your-mom/
http://avaimobile.com/if-siri-was-your-mom/#commentsSun, 10 May 2015 19:01:32 +0000http://theme-fusion.com/avada_demos/portfolio/?p=11961Mashable bravely asks, “what if Siri was your mom?”
]]>http://avaimobile.com/if-siri-was-your-mom/feed/2Mobile Must-Haves from MuseumExpohttp://avaimobile.com/mobile-must-haves-museumexpo/
http://avaimobile.com/mobile-must-haves-museumexpo/#commentsThu, 30 Apr 2015 19:52:30 +0000http://avaimobile.com/?p=13332Ah, it is great to be back in my city, sleeping in my bed, and following my normal routine! This was not the case the last few days, as I made the trip over to Atlanta, Georgia for the American Alliance of Museum’s, MuseumExpo 2015, and was sleeping out of the back of my car, foraging for food. Kidding! Thankfully, my company graciously put me up in a hotel within walking distance of the venue and I was able to partake in the amazing southern cuisine that Atlanta is known for.

Anyways, touched back down in Austin and thought I’d write a quick recap while all the knowledge absorbed is still freshly engrained in my mind. If you have any involvement with museums/historic sites/zoos, personally or professionally, I would highly recommend looking in to what the American Alliance of Museum is doing for the industry. Over three days, I learned more than I ever have / would have by just visiting these properties. The advocacy of the industry, the new technologies being utilized, and the mere kindness of the industry in whole was breathtaking. However, I had one goal in mind in attending the conference and that was learning how digital (mobile apps specifically) fit into the world of Museums. I had my own viewpoints but I wanted to know – was it looked down upon? Was it a topic of interest? Was digital strategy an important arm in the space…I quickly found my answer after speaking with a few folks. Overall, I found out that mobile apps and museums meshed together like Harry and Sally. As the world can clearly see, mobile devices are becoming an extension of one’s arm…no age group left behind. Seeing someone not looking down at their phones is the new “not normal”. This is evident in the Museum space and it is not so much that the physical world trumps the digital world and digital has no place in museums, but how do we bridge that world? How do we supplement exhibits and engage visitors on a deeper level? The answer is mobile!

With the breakthrough of newer mobile offerings, it was hard to find a museum not pursuing a mobile app for their property, or at least interested in it. There is no need to explain the opportunity of what a mobile app can provide for a museum, but I’m going to explain below, as that is the crux of the blog.

Functionality Must-Haves

Analytics (Analytics rule the world. Gather further data on your visitors so that you can give them the best experience possible.)

Navigation

Scheduling

Donation Opportunities

Beacon-Triggered Messaging

Tour Functionality

App-Specific Exhibit Content (ON & OFF SITE)

Social Media

Rich Media

Personalization

Interactive Feature

Technology Must-Knows

Mobile tech can be expensive – don’t reinvent the wheel

iOS + Android account for 95%+ of the market

Content/Design is dynamic – make sure your app is as well

Beacons work, with the right strategy in place

Support is everything – don’t try to tackle alone

I’ll say it again; mobile Apps are buzzing within Museums. However, with every great opportunity, comes a great wall. The two biggest walls that I found was the hassle of justifying costs to Museum boards, or the hassle of finding the right mobile provider. It’s not “will an app make us successful?” anymore – it’s “what’s the best way to leverage an app for success?” That’s the golden question. Luckily, we have the golden answer.

]]>http://avaimobile.com/mobile-must-haves-museumexpo/feed/0Nielsen U.S. Smartphone Ownership Datahttp://avaimobile.com/nielsen-u-s-smartphone-ownership-data/
http://avaimobile.com/nielsen-u-s-smartphone-ownership-data/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 01:49:01 +0000http://avaimobile.com/?p=13320Smartphone penetration has soared to a staggering 77% of mobile devices in the U.S., and it may surprise you who is leading the charge. In Q4 of 2015, it was multicultural users who were adopting smartphones at a higher rate than the U.S. average. Nielsen data showed that “Asian/Pacific Islanders (86.6%), Black-African Americans (83%), and Hispanics (82.4%) are the top three groups with the highest rates of smartphone ownership, compared with 74.2% of non-Hispanic whites.”

As for operating system, Android was the leader in Q4 2014, with just shy of 50% of U.S. smartphones running Android. Apple, however, held its spot as the top manufacturer, with 43.6% of subscribers.

Source

]]>http://avaimobile.com/nielsen-u-s-smartphone-ownership-data/feed/0Steve Jobshttp://avaimobile.com/steve-jobs/
http://avaimobile.com/steve-jobs/#commentsThu, 01 May 2014 13:20:36 +0000http://localhost/thirdsite/?p=1129Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.
]]>http://avaimobile.com/steve-jobs/feed/0The Mobile Industry 6 Years Laterhttp://avaimobile.com/mobile-industry-6-years/
http://avaimobile.com/mobile-industry-6-years/#commentsTue, 29 Apr 2014 22:50:15 +0000http://avaimobile.com/?p=3146We’re now six years into the mobile revolution. A lot of innovation has taken place already, and it’s obvious the momentum is only growing. So where are we today?

In the US, time spent on mobile devices continues to rise, today totaling 2 hours and 42 minutes per day. Of this time spent, app usage continues to dominate mobile web. Time spent in apps continued to increase, averaging an impressive 86% of the US mobile consumer’s time in devices, or 2 hours and 20 minutes per day. Said Flurry, “The data tells a clear story that apps, which were considered a mere fad a few years ago, are completely dominating mobile, and the browser has become a single application swimming in a sea of apps.”

Below is a breakdown of how time is spent inside mobile apps. Gaming apps have maintained a significant amount of time spent, however Social apps are still on the rise. Another notable rise in usage was productivity apps, who doubled in usage year over year.

Another interesting development (or lack thereof) over the past six years is a lack consolidation with the big franchises. For example, leaders Google and Facebook combine for less than 25% of total US consumer time, the top ten franchises combined less than 40% of time spent (ComScore). Despite considerable effort on the part of these leaders, the market is very volatile, with new players emerging constantly.

As for mobile advertising, the result should come as a surprise. Traditionally, advertising revenue distribution follows time spent distribution. Meaning, if an app creates 50% of time spent, it should command 50% of the ad revenues for that channel. But this is not the case right now in mobile.

According to eMarketer, last year Facebook earned 17.5% of the overall mobile advertising revenues. This is in line with Facebook’s 17% of the total time spent. But why is Google, occupying 18% of time spent, earning 49% of the overall mobile advertising revenues? As the mobile ad market continues to grow, this will be an interesting trend to watch.

According to Flurry, one thing is clear – “apps have won and the mobile browser is taking a back seat. Now every company in the world including Google is adjusting to that reality.”

Source

]]>http://avaimobile.com/mobile-industry-6-years/feed/0Android Wear – Google’s Wearables Platform Is Herehttp://avaimobile.com/android-wear-googles-wearables-platform/
http://avaimobile.com/android-wear-googles-wearables-platform/#commentsWed, 19 Mar 2014 22:56:11 +0000http://avaimobile.com/?p=3147Google is officially bringing Android to smartwatches. The project is called “Android Wear,” at it will offer developers a free, open-source OS to develop in, just like Android smartphones and tablets. Anticipated features are fitness tracking, social media, messages, shopping notifications, and news.

Unlike other smartwatches out there today, in addition to being an extension of the smartphone, Google is aiming for much greater interaction. For starters, Google hints at a Chromecast integration. Android Wear is also expected to fully support voice-enabled search, a feature that would come in very handy for wearers.

Google has already partnered with Fossil Group and the big mobile devices manufactures – HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung – to begin making Android Wear smartwatches. Look for devices in the coming months.

Mobility has undoubtedly transformed the way enterprises function in the modern times. The conventional 9-5 job is no longer a reality as people want to stay connected 24/7. With the advent of consumerization of IT, employees also expect to use their personal devices to access critical business information while on the go. Organizations are waking up to the reality that enterprise mobility can substantially increase productivity. CIOs are thus in a rush to come up with critical mobile applications that can help them leverage this phenomenon. However, not every organization has the required expertise or insight to build an effective mobile strategy from the ground up. Such organizations require the assistance of enterprise mobility solutions providers who can gauge their specific requirements and help them develop effective enterprise apps.

The industry has seen a sudden spurt in the number of enterprise mobility solutions providers who have come up with several platforms that help organizations build their own apps. As the navigator for enterprises, CIOReview presents to you the ‘20 Most Promising Enterprise Mobility Solution Providers’. The listing intends to help CIOs find the solutions provider who can help build the perfect app tailored around an enterprise’s specific needs. In the last few months CIO Review has looked through several companies to identify the ones that are at the forefront of tackling the enterprise mobility challenges. A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, VCs, industry analysts and the editorial board of CIOReview selected the Final 20.

]]>http://avaimobile.com/press-release-avai-mobile-featured-cio-reviews-mobility-20/feed/0Flurry’s “Rise of the Mobile Addict”http://avaimobile.com/hello-world-2/
http://avaimobile.com/hello-world-2/#commentsSun, 09 Feb 2014 15:28:31 +0000http://clapat.ro/themeforest/?p=1Flurry Analytics examined the behaviors of consumers who heavily use their smartphone or tablet, a segment referred to as the “Mobile Addict”. Mobile Addicts are defined as consumers who launch apps more than 60 times per day. To put this in reference, the average consumer launches apps about 10 times per day.

More and More Addicts

The chart below shows overall growth in usage over the past year. Mobile Addicts are the fastest growing segment, with 123% growth between March 2013 and 2014. In March of 2014, there were approximately 176 million Mobile Addicts, up from 79 million this time last year.

Who’s Addicted?

Of Mobile Addicts, 52% were female and 48% male. The overall mobile user base is 48% female and 52% male, which means there are significantly more female addicts compared to male (15 million).

As for age, the most addicted users are teens, college students and… middle-age parents? Yep, the 35-54 age segment (Middle Aged) currently comprises 28% of all addicts.

As for persona, Mobile Addicts types differ from females to males. The chart below compares the percentage reach of each persona in the Mobile Addict segment compared to that same persona for the average mobile consumer.